Little Mateo turned 1 yesterday so they dressed him and told him to smile. Actually where those clothes came from is beyond me as normally he wears nothing more than a diaper made out of one of his brother's t-shirts. We celebrated as we always do with the cake and the singing and the prayer...and he understood none of it. The horde of kids did though, they heard there was cake and came a running and enjoyed it for him. Happy Birthday to him.

happy but not really sure why

mateo is funny actually, funny in a way that worries me. he's a slow mover - in just about every way. it's like his every movement is in slow motion, from turning his head to pointing at something. on top of that he gets fixated on things, he'll just rest his slow moving gaze on something and stare at it for minutes on end and nothing can break the studious glare, not even caling his name. i'm being serious when i say that i'm not sure everything is ok here, i've never seen a baby move so slow and react so little to things.

i thought of a few captions for this one but opted against them...supply your own.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Good Morning, at least it’s morning here, quite early in fact. I’ve been hit with the desire to introduce you all to the Varela family – the boys of the family actually. I’ve been meaning to do this for some time in that I find them so captivating and frustrating all at once, but as is my wont, I get distracted and busy and grand exposés get pushed to the side in favor quick photos with snappy captions. Anyway, I've got the time this morning and the gumption so let me start by saying, I really like these kids. I suppose that's a given, I like nearly all of the kids in this community, but there is something special about these boys, the way they look out for each other, raise each other, act the man of the house when necessary. I don't know, it makes me smile.In all, including the 2 girls, they are 8 - they know of their father as he sometimes visits but he lives 3 hours away and for all intents and purposes doesn't exist. Their mother is Marta who is an wonderful lady, loves making me coffee and dotes on me as much as she can. But she is one person raising 8 children, so very often the bathing, dressing, bringing home income and reprimanding the little ones falls to the older kids. They live in a tight, 2 room home and sleep on 2 beds; all of their worldly possessions can fit into about 4 cardboard boxes. All of this living the way they do, practically on top of each other, raising each other, it lends itself to serious solidarity. They are fiercely loyal to each other, if one is angry with me they all invariably snub me; if I do good by one of them they fall all over me. They are brothers in the truest sense of the word.

the oldest boy is carlos, here holding mateo josue.carlos is 14, an excellent soccer player and one my favorite kids in the community.

mateo josue is...well...a baby.

kevin is 10, a great soccer player as well and eternally angry.it stems more i think from jealousy and i've taken to ignoring him when he acts that way, which seem to work.

elvin is 8 and on-again-off-again with me but perpetually on with konrad. elvin does perhaps the best job at taking care of the kids younger than him in that he does more than just provide and care for, he plays with and entertains them as well.

elwin is 6 and is simply aloof from everything that goes on in the family. he often wanders off and plays for hours in the hinter regions of the community with obscure children that i barely know. he's always filthy and always sick or hurt; the other day at the soccer game he sat down in the middle of a rain-filled street and began playing with the dirty rain water and mud.

darwin is 2 and insane. he likes to play with dirt and rocks in the middle of the street and refuses to wear clothes. oh, and he already knows a slew of curse words.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

forgot to mention that konrad and I took a quick trip to utila the other saturday/sunday. we'd been feeling exhausted and burnt so we hopped the afternoon ferry after the soccer games. it's a beautiful and strange place inhabitated by english-speaking (sort of, their dialect is less intelligible than jamaican english) descendants of pirates and british colonials. it's nothing like the rest of honduras culturally and a must see if you're ever in the area. needless to say that konnie and i came back rested and rejuvanated.

Friday, May 7, 2010

Dear Blessed has it been slow! Which I don't mind telling you, is nice; we've been running ourselves ragged for the past 2 months with little or no resting time so this past week has been a real treat. Yesterday we just visited with kids and families and spent the better part of the morning lounging in the trees.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Kevin, one of the kids I'm closest to, turned 10 the other day. We did the requisite celebrating and all and had a grand old time. Incidentally, the next day Kevin scored the game winning goal for our U-12 soccer team...so he's been riding high here.

the kid and the cake

afterwards we smoked the candles...ok not really.

his slice, though his brother seems to want some of the action as well

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

I forgot to mention the other day that this past Saturday, for the first time since beginning our soccer season, both of our teams won their respective games. I had fully expected our U-14 team to come away with the win, they've been practicing hard, are loaded with talent and were practically bloodthirsty. It was our U-12 team though that really surprised me, they stayed disciplined the entire game and just wore the other team down. Both teams won their games 2-1 and needless to say we were all elated. We rode back into the community on the back of a truck screaming "WE WON, WE WON", we made quite a spectacle of ourselves. Now for this coming weekend...

About Me

I am a follower of Jesus, lover of all things Honduran and a native of Central Pennsylvania. My physical location is less than fixed and permanent but my heart and mind is ever-present in La Ceiba, Honduras.